Coconut Travels

My Time in India 08

2008-08-03T03:26:00.004+05:30

So Long

Well my time in India was simply amazing and eye opening. I've been back before and quite a few times but the last time I went was 5 years ago. This time around it was different. I am now old enough to really take in the culture and the people and to see where I'm from and the immense heritage that makes me who I am (partly). This is the first time that I've been to India that I got to understand what really makes it different from this society here and how that difference is really its strength.

When I first got back to Calgary my first impression was that this place was ugly lol. Well it isn't but with all the beauty out there in the world, Calgary looks so plain and boring. I'm not trying to knock Calgary and I like living here but there are amazing things out there in the world. This trip has inspired me to do more traveling and to visit India again as soon as possible.

Until Next time, so long India, I look forward to seeing you again.

July 25/26 - In Limbo??

2008-07-26T03:16:00.001+05:30

Well the throwing up didn't stop and I got a high fever. I slept all the way to Bangalore (5 hours). I had to stay awake for all 6 hours in Hong Kong, and then 4 hours in Vancouver after a 12 hour flight. All in all total travel route to Calgary was 33 hours and I was sick for all of it! I like plane travel and all but that was the worst experience I've ever had. Anyhow, I got back to Calgary and hugged Becca and went and stayed sick at the house in Calgary.

I left at 2:20 am Saturday July 26 and arrived in Calgary 7:20 pm Saturday July 26th. Thanks to the international date line my timing got messed up.

July 25 - Bombs over Bangalore

2008-07-25T02:18:00.003+05:30

Kingfisher airlines is definitely the best airlines in India. Lots of leg room, really good food, awesome masala chai, and in flight entertainment! Needless to say, the flight from Hyderabad to Bangalore was great.

I arrived to very rainy weather. It almost felt like the plane was going to skid off of the runway. My uncle picked me up and we went back to his place. Had some food, chatted a while and fell asleep. I woke up at ten am (late start, I was dead tired). I asked my uncle to take me to a local gym so I could get a quick workout in before I went back to see Becca.

He took me to the same place where I went for my massage, but across the hallway to the gym. I got assigned a guy who couldn't speak any english. He was my personal trainer! There's a lot of people who use the gym here and who also are very big and buff. Haha, they must have thought I didn't know how to exercise because my current physical appearance isn't impressive in any way. Anyhow, he got me to do stretches then threw me on the treadmill, elliptical, and bike. He was stunned to see that I was very fit and that this wasn't very strenous for me. I think to test me, he had me do 50 painful crunches lol. With that, he called it a day, but I was very impressed with the gym and the knowledge of the trainers.

My uncle took me back to his place for a shower and then we were off to Cauvery. Cauvery is a government regulated handicrafts emporium. This place was very cool! Prices were reasonable and the handicrafts were awesome. Bought quite a few things here. We headed over to my younger cousins girls school. We got there and she wanted to give me a tour of her school. So we walked around and I was fairly impressed. It was a beautiful school. With that we headed back to their place.

After lunch, my aunt and I decided to head out to do some shopping for kurtis (short sleeved tops for women) and pick up my other cousin from his school. Sanju (cousin) wanted to go to a mall called Garuda Mall but my aunt was adament that going to commercial street would be the better place. As it turns out, it was a good idea. We headed over to commercial street after picking up my cousin from his school (which was huge!) and started shopping around when my aunt received a phone call. She got off the phone and said we needed to head over to KFC, there's been a bomb blast near Garuda Mall. So we went over there, fed my cousin then drove back to their apartment. The cell network was down, landlines, as well as there was no power. So we killed time while everyone was tense and I started packing.

2 hours later the power came back on and my bags were packed. We heard that there were 8 low intensity bomb blasts around Bangalore and 2 people had died. What a send off from India eh? I do respect everyone here though because everyone was calm and collected. We decided to have me at the airport earlier. After a really heavy dinner (I still wish I hadn't eaten that much to this day) and my goodbyes we headed over to the airport. After check in I started feeling really sick and then the throwing up started.

July 24 - Goodbye Hyderabad

2008-07-24T10:59:00.002+05:30

Early Morning Awakening

My dad drove me around Hyderabd today, specifically Hi Tec City. There are three phases of construction to Hi Tec City and it has just started it's second phase. It's a nice place and for me personally it's like a stamp of Western culture or should I say corporate culture in traditional India. You aren't allowed to take photos or anything around Hi Tec City.

So much has changed...

And somethings haven't...

Just like I remember it when I was a kid...

I came back home and started packing my bags. Tonight is my flight to Bangalore. I wish I had more time with the family here, but what can you do... I didn't hesitate taking photos in and around the house here.

Until Next Time

(Added Later)

Hyderbad International airport is an impressive building. Very modern architecture reminiscent of the Hong Kong Airport, but only a miniture version of it. Still, for India it's incredibly gorgeous. If I were allowed to take pictures I would have.

July 23 - Hyderabad Day 3

2008-07-23T10:58:00.002+05:30

Goodbye

The drive back from Warangal was about 4 hours and as a result we decided not to do anything strenous in the evening. We just hung out with the family. Nothing interesting, sight seeing wise or quirky to report.

Highway Garage

July 22 - Warangal

2008-07-22T10:58:00.002+05:30

Warangal is a town about 250 km east of Hyderabad. My dad's family lives there and that was the reason for the trip out. There isn't too much to say about Warangal. Nothing's changed too much. It was interesting to see where my dad studied and it was nice to see the family out there.

Highway Pitstop - Yes that is the highway on the left...

Too hot to handle

Abused Penguin

My cousins took me to Thousand Pillars Temple which had been reduced down to 50. So much for preservation. We stayed the night in Warangal and headed back to Hyderabad on the 23rd.

Thousand Pillars Temple

Pillar Artwork

I need a couple of these in front of my dream home

All chalked up and nowhere to go

The three Amigos

July 21 - Hyderabadi Biryani

2008-07-21T10:56:00.003+05:30

Today we decided to check out a restaurant called Paradise and get some shopping done for my mom and sis who are staying in India longer than me and my dad. Paradise is located in old Hyderabad and the restaurant is famous for Traditional Hyderabadi Biryani. Biryani is meat and rice cooked together with spices. I'm not sure how else to describe it, but it is my favorite Indian dish. The funny thing about posh restaurants here is that they have 4 or 5 floors dedicated to them, with each floor having a level of A/C. I.e. No A/C, standard A/C, Deluxe A/C, Super Deluxe A/C, Platinum A/C.

Each level is just a representaion of the amount of cold air they blow into the restaurant. We chose to go with Deluxe A/C and had an incredile meal. At least I thought saw. My biggest regret of this trip will be not coming back here again. I stuffed my face full and I have no regrets in doing so.

My Favorite Dish - Hyderbadi Biryani

mmm... Can't get enough of this stuff

Chicken Biryani

After lunch it started pouring in the city so we decided to head to a local mall. Well really it's a mall built around the IMAX theatre. Nice place, but nothing authentically Indian aout it. This spelled Western Influence. The malls here in India are generally tiny compared to the malls in Calgary. However, I have seen a few mega malls here which would easily dwarf any of the megamalls in the U.S. or Canada; well nothing beats West Ed in terms of square footage but you get what I mean.

Hyderabad is famous for three things; Food, Shopping, and Hi Tec City. Hi Tec City being a separate district of Hyderabad that houses all the IT firms such as Microsoft, IBM, Dell, and all the call centres. Because all these companies are here they also have brought their massive architecture to Hyderbad. While the buildings aren't sky scrapers by any means they easily dwarf any of the buildings in Hyderabad.

We decided to call it a day as we're heading to Warangal tomorrow.

July 20 - Hyderabad Day 1

2008-07-20T10:55:00.003+05:30

The last time I saw any of my extended family was 5 years ago. My cousin and my uncle drove us to their apartment after they picked us up from the "Bus Stop". Like I said, in the previous post, it was a mad dash across the city to their apartment for washrooms.

My cousin drives a maruti suzuki alto which is nice, small, and speedy. From what I did see during the quick drive, Hyderabad was a lot bigger than Bangalore and had a lot more shopping malls. However, it also had a lot of Old Hyderbad as I remember mixed in with the new. South Indians are generally darker, and have pudgier features such as noses and pouty lips. Their hair is also naturally curly.

My cousin's apartment is very nice, far nicer than the apartment I'm going to buy in Calgary and for a fraction of the price. He and I chatted a little bit and we decided that we'd relax a little bit before makinig any plans. I should mention that this was the cousin and uncle on my dad's side of the family.

View from my Cousin's Apartment

Down the Street - Modern Hyderabad, Apartment Buildings Everywhere

The Medical Campus in the distance

It's busy everywhere I look

Surrounding Foliage

My family decided that we would go visit my mom's side of the family. Their house is located in the outskirts of Hyderbad (at least it was the outskirts 5 years ago) in a place called Kukatpally. As we drove through the horrible traffic (far worse than Delhi and Bangalore), we inched closer to Kukatpally, which was now a bustling Medical and Shopping district. It had completely transformed into a commercial area and I had a hard time recognizing the area. We arrived at my grandparents place and talked about a lot of things with the fam there.

At some point it was decided to go see my dad's lot in another district here in Hyderbad which he invested in some 15 odd years ago. The place hadn't developed at all; I guess it was too far in the outskirts for anyone to consider developing it. The interesting thing however is that people were living on this barren land and there were even hindu temples built on our plot space. My cousin then explained to me that these "settlements" are run and owned by the land mafia and that we could no longer hold onto this land. If we tried challening them for it, apparently we'd dissapear and the police, being corrupt and all wouldn't do anything about it.

We headed back to my grand parents place and we went for a walk. I had coconut water and some really good food and then back to my cousin's place.

Traffic in one direction

Traffic in another direction

Traffic in one more direction...

Can anyone spot the traffic police, because I sure can't and the other people probably didn't even notice he was there.

Shopping Mall just outside Grandparents house

Lovely jewellery at a stand

Nervous woman of corn

Just take your coconut juice

July 19 - Bengaluru

2008-07-19T17:54:00.002+05:30

I didn't do too much today.

My family and I were fairly exhausted after the North India tour so we decided to take it easy today. We have a departure for Hyderabad later on tonight.

Well now that I've seen North Indiaand I'm old enough to remember all the details I can start describing what South India is like. It's definitely different. The skin complexions are darker and the languages (telegu, karnataka, tamil, etc..) are more flowing where as Hindi is more structured and rigid.

My dad and I decided to see what the massages were like here so my uncle took us to a spa. In India, men usually go to spas more than women and it is more socially acceptable for them to get manicures, facials, and pedicures. We arrived at the spa not more than two blocks away from my uncle's place so it was a nice short walk. The spa was on the second floor of a small commercial building. It looked more like an office than an actual spa. The front lady greeted us and showed us their menu (I kid you not, a physical menu) of the various services offered. We flipped to the massages part. I chose the cheapest'; a coconut oil massage where as my dad went for the more exotic aroma therapy massage. My massage cost was 750 rupees which is equivalent to about 20 canadian dollars. My dad's was 1000 rupees which is about 25 canadian dollars.

So, I go into the massage room which is not more than 4 feet wide by 10 feet long with a very narrow massage table. There was a tiny hole in the table to put your face into and the table itself was about 5 foot 5 inches in length, so I couldn't lay down on it without my feet hanging off of the edge.

My massesseuse walked into the room, a young man named neru who is a native Bangalore. He couldn't speak a word of english and only some Hindi. So it was hard to communicate. He was about 5 foot 6 inches, so fairly small, clean shaven, and had a little ponch. He asked me to take my clothes off and lie down on the table. I asked whether I should strip down comletely or just to my boxers. He said boxers. He left the room and I did as instructed. When he came back in, I guess he didn't realize boxers covered a good chunk the thighs. He opened a drawer and pulled out a clean pair of tighty whities or briefs if you will and asked me to wear this instead, which I did.

He heated up some coconut oil in a small pot, but the transformer blew so he had to resort to using the oil as quickly as possible so that it didn't cool down too fast. Now, the massage was great. He massaged every joint and muscle in my body and even made me do stretches that I wouldn't normally do, but I must admit it was a little weird having a man massage me by rubbing hot oil all over my body and massaging my inner thighs as well as chest lol. We chatted a little bit and he asked me how much massages cost in Canada. I told him the equivalent is 3200 rupees (80 cad). He was astounded and said he should come to Canada to work as a massessue. I learnt that he never went onto further studies after grade 10 and decided he'd rather make money as soon as possible before continuing on with his studies.

After the massage was done he asked me to throw the underwear in a corner, towel off and put my clothes back on ,which I did. He asked if I would come back for a massage again, and I said yes probably.

And that was pretty much the day's activities. We went to the bus stop in the evening, which really is just waiting at some random point on the sidewalk wiating for the bus to come. The bus was an hour late and when it did show up it wasn't the best looking bus either... It looked likethe bus hadn't been changed in the last 10 years. Anyhow, we got on board and there was some guy sitting in the spots that were reserved for our family. We told him we had the spots and he refused to budge sayiun he needed five minutes. Five minutes came and went and we asked again and at this point my dad was starting to lose his temper as was I. Finally the ticket checker came around and kicked him out. We had our seats, which were cramped and small (Smaller than the greyhound busses in Canada).

Waiting at the Bus Stop watching Traffic Go By

The Country that never sleeps

People eat at any time of the day

Other people waiting at their bus stop across the street

Our bus looked something similar to this

The ride to Hyderbad was scary as the driver was already behind schedule and he was driving the bus like it was a volkswagen beetle. I chose to sleep as quickly as possible not wanting to see how the driver was heading directly into oncoming traffic. I woke up halfway in the night and lifted my legs up on to the seat in front of me to try and get more comfortable. I didn\t get much sleep after that.

We arrived in Hyderabad at about 10 in the morning; 2 hours behind schedule.(It's about a 12 hour drive for 600 km). All of us desperately needed to use the washroom and we were ecstatic that my cousin and uncle were waiting to pick us up. We made a mad dash to their apartment (3 bedroom/3 bathroom) apartment which was really nice.

Back to South India

2008-07-19T17:44:00.002+05:30

Woke up early morning and my stomach wasn't feeling too well. We headed quickly over to Akbhor's tomb which was by far the best tomb I've seen next to the Taj. You were even allowed to take pictures inside of the tomb! Simply splendid and I'll let the pictures describe the tomb instead of words. Well, I'll add that the this tomb is the only tomb I've seen so far that has so much vivid color everywhere!

Akbar's Tomb Entrance

At a wall

Incredible Colors and Textures

Colorful Patterns

Love the Gold Trim

Entrance into the courtyard before Akbar's Tomb

Akbar's Tomb in the distance

Akbar's Tomb in the distance

MONKEY SHOTS

Grand entrance before entering the hallway to Akbar's Tomb

Beautiful Trees line the entrance to Akbar's Tomb

The hallway to Akbar's Tomb

The Hallway to Akbar's Tomb

Akbar's Tomb

Akbar's Tomb and his lantern

Akbar the Great Lies here

View of the front entrance to Akbar's Tomb

The Exit

The drive back to Delhi was long and I slept through most of it. Back in Delhi, Anil wished us off well and invited me to bring Becca back some time and to make sure he was our driver lol. He's a funny guy and I like him and I will hire him next time.

Highway Traffic

Anil the Driver - Great Guy

4 hours later, I was back in Bangalore relishing South Indian food and calling it a night. And that was the end of my North India tour!

All in all the journey was great. I had lots of fun and my favorite places were Amer Fort, Qutb Minar, and Taj Mahal. Next time I come I'll definitely spend as much time as I can in Rajasthan.

This is Taj, Taj, This is Taj!

2008-07-19T11:43:00.004+05:30

Edited: Too many good pictures of the Taj and Red Fort. Have had to move it to another post.

This will be a short and sweet post. Bear with me as I did a lot of shots around the Taj. If you were there or ever go there, you would understand...

We stopped at the hotel to check in and freshen up. It's really hot in Agra (temp was about 35 that day) and it is incredibly dry. We then headed onto the Taj. We had to stop about a kilometere away as Anil wasn't allowed to take the car any further. We then had to take a bus that stopped about 500m away because the bus wasn't allowed to go any further. This was the commercial part of the Taj as there were shops on either side of the street wanting to sell something. We then had to buy our tickets and go through security checks. On a side note, bags are not allowed into the Taj. They have to be either checked into a locker or stowed in your vehicle. Mp3 players, especially ipods are not allowed. You have to pay tons more for a video camera and you have to pay much more if you're a foreigner.

Walking towards the "Side Entrance" at the Taj

Looking back while walking towards the "Side Entrance" at the Taj

Ticket Payment (Non Foreigner) for the Taj

Once you pay for your tickets you have to get through the security check

And Some people hate going through the security checks...

And finally, you start heading towards the main entrance

We then walked along a courtyard and into the gates where I caught my first glimpse of the Taj. Simply stunning. It's white marble bathed in the light of dusk was absolutely breathless. We walked on further and ran into a whole bunch of photographers with cameras twenty plus years older who wanted to take photos of us in front of the Taj. I told them my family already had a photographer and pointed towars my camera. The photographer shut up for a minute and then said "That's a nice camera but with my camera I know how to use it and you should trust me to take your pictures" The bloody nerve of the guy! Anyhow, my parents did end up hiring a guy just to see what kind of pictures he could take of us. The pictures were out of focus, and the Taj was lopsided. Some photographers... they don't even know how to use their manual lenses.

Getting Closer to the entrance...

Ok I'm at the entrance, still no Taj...

There it is! I can see it in the background

The main entrance to the Taj and of the Taj

Finally, in all it's glory!

The Taj Mahal!

and the people...

My attempt at a unique shot of the Taj Mahal

First off impression of the Taj - Incredible. Second impression way too many people here. And I mean this place is packed! It was 2 hours before closing and this was only two thirds of the crowd that is normally here during the day. That's insane!

The gardens were fenced off and you were only allowed to walk along certain paths which were also cramped with too many people trying to take a shot of the Taj. While the Taj Mahal is beautiful it's also the hardest thing to photograph. There's no way you can get a unique shotas you aren't allowed to move around and every popular spot is already packed with people so you'll have people in your shot no matter what you do. Don't let this take away from your experience. If there is one thing I have learned from this, it's to get to the Taj as early as possible and spend your time walking around it

Busy Busy!

Sunset Light hitting the Taj

My Favorite Unique shot of the Taj

Me and my sis proving to everyone we were actually there

Walking up to the Taj

As you get up to the central part of the Taj itself, you have to take your shoes off to walk on the white marble. Each flower in the white marble is made up of 2000 different pieces so that when the moonlight hits the Taj it's absolutely stunning because the marble becomes somewhat translucent and reflects different colors. This I didn't get to see but I sure which I could have. Next time for sure.
Once your shoes are off you are free to roam around the central part of the Taj, but once again people are everywhere so you are never alone.

No more captions, I'll let the photos speak for themselves

We headed inside the maseoleum which you aren't allowed to take photos of. The main part is an octoganal ring and in the center are the tombs of Mumtaaz and Shah Jahaan, King and Queen. Once again it was fenced off so you aren't allowed to get close or touch it, but it wouldn't really matter as these are fake tombs. The real tombs are down below in the catacombs and these happen to be only a replica of the original. It's still worth seeing and to hear the tale of Shah Jahaan and Mumtaaz while you're actually at the Taj adds that much more to your experience.

Each of the pillars has intricate designs

The carvings in the marble

Can you spell tourist?

Entrance into the tomb from afar

We then decided to walk around a little bit and take some photos, but it was already closing time and so we headed back to the Hotel. I'll come back to the Taj again someday, probably with Becca but definitely getting there early morning.

The writing along the walls of the Taj

The color in the walls of the Taj - It's not all white!

The entrance into the tomb

The carvings at the entrance to the tomb

The backside of the Taj

The exit from the tomb

From a corner

Not really sure...

Funky Bird, taking a breather atop one of the Taj Pillars

It's hard to grasp how massive this monument really is

It's just too beautiful to capture

A bunch of teenagers awed by the Taj

The sun is setting fast

Goodbye Taj Mahal

We spent a quick half hour freshining up at the Hotel and headed towards a marlble seller's place. He showed us how he makes white marble and how he polishes it and what not. Beautiful pieces but very expensive and heavy. We didn't buy anything. Next stop was a popular local mall which was being built and brand new. It was just a big department store with cinemas included as well. They even show Hancock in Hindi. I went into the local mcdonalds and tried taking a couple shots of the menu but I was rudely told by a geeky looking kid who reminded me a lot of that kid on the Simpsons who has all the teenage positions that photography was prohibited in front of the counter and in the restaurant.

At the Marble Shop, Guy giving us the history of Marble

Polishing Marble the old fashioned way

Carefully now...

Precision is a must

The inside of the Marble Shop

Demonstrating the different colors marble can take against the moonlight

Hancock in Hindi

Mmm, Maharaja Burger

We headed back to the hotel and called it a night.

Agra Red Fort

2008-07-19T10:21:00.002+05:30

After Fathepur we drove into Agra. We had a quick lunch at a local restaurant. It was pretty funny, as we strolled in the waiters kicked out a foreign couple as they were finishing dessert. After lunch, we headed straight to the Agra red fort, which had an amazing view of the Taj and it was simply beautiful. This was where shah jahaan was imprisoned by his son. His only request was to have a view of the Taj which is a memorial to his wife Mumtaz. We sped through the fort quickly because we were trying to get to the Taj as quickly as possible. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

Entrance to Agra Red Fort

Agra Red Fort Wall

Grand Entrance into the Agra Red Fort

A Teasing Shot of the Taj in the distance

Everything Grand about Agra Red Fort

Inside the Red Fort

Hanging Lantern

The Guide...

Beautiful Details

What Shah Jahaan must have seen back in the day - A view of the Taj from Agra Red Fort

Grand Sweeping Entrances - Red Fort

The marble is everywhere!

Red Fort isn't so red here...

Royal Pigeons

Foreigners hiding out from the intense Agra heat

It just keeps going

Not sure where this was at the Red Fort but nice nonetheless

No Detail is too small...

At the Walls - Agra Red Fort

Are they Eyes or Flowers?

Random Passageways or so it would seem...

Wonder how many people and how long it took to carve this all out of Red Sandstone...

Goodbye Agra Red Fort

Akbor's City (Fatehpur)

2008-07-19T10:20:00.002+05:30

We arrived in a place just outside of Agra about 3 and half hours later.

For the life of me I can't remember what it's called and so I'll have to revisit this post, but it was another fort/place of worship of Akbor - a king. (Fathepur)

Welcome to Fathepur (Akbor's City)

Fathepur

A window in Fathepur

Going for A Swim - Fathepur

Outside In - Fathepur

This is Fathepur!

Crazy Carvings

Residences - Fathepur

To Akbhor's Apartment - Fathepur

Akbhor's Apartment - Fathepur

The "Courtyard" in front of Akbhor's Apartment - Fathepur

Entrance to Bulund Darwaza (Highest Gate) - Fathepur

A goat on the steps to Bulund Darwaza

Tombs inside Bulund Darwaza - Fathepur

Walking Around Bulund Darwaza

The Courtyard at Bulund Darwaza

Children's Tombs - Bulund Darwaza

A flock of tourists - Bulund Darwaza

A View out - Bulund Darwaza

Locked Passageway to somwhere? - Bulund Darwaza

The courtyard is lined with Tombs - Bulund Darwaza

Holy Place - Bulund Darwaza

Mandatory Caps to enter Holy Place - Bulund Darwaza

So many holes - Bulund Darwaza

Tying Strings for Wishes to be fulfilled - Bulund Darwaza

Wishful Strings - Bulund Darwaza

Side Entrance to Bulund Darwaza

People Resting at the Bulund Darwaza

The afternoon heat is too intense for some people

So many tourists - Bulund Darwaza

Man on a Mission - Bulund Darwaza

The exit from Bulund Darwaza

Renovating Bulund Darwaza

The place was beautiful but we were ushered along by a guide who wasn't more than fifteen. He took us to various tombs and even to a religous place of worship where we had to buy these strings that you tie up inside the place of worship to make any of your wishes come true. I even got to put on the little islamic hat, which they make everyone wear no matter which religion you are.

We quickly left the place as we were trying to get to Agra as fast as possible. Back at the parking lot we were confronted by a guide who the travel agency had sent free of charge. He turned out to be absolutely useless and quite a jerk to Anil the driver. He acted as a snob and kept questioning everything Anil did.

Leaving Jaipur - Queens Palaces (Sisodiya Rani Bagh)

2008-07-19T10:19:00.005+05:30

Queen's Palace - Somewhere outside of Jaipur

Queen's Palace - Somewhere outside of Jaipur

Inside her Palace - Interesting Painting

We left Jaipur early in the morning and headed on our way to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal.

Inside her palace - Sitting Area

The Lookout inside her palace

The view of her garden

Pigeons lounging around the cow rain spout

Queen's Palace in the morning Sunlight

Side Entrance into the Palace with lovely Paintings

A view of the Garden - Queen's Palace

Where the fountains used to be

On the way we stopped at a queens palace which was simply beautiful. They really knew how to live it up in those days.

The Pink City isn't actually Pink!

2008-07-19T07:30:00.003+05:30

Interesting Painting at Amer View Hotel, Amer Jaipur

Rajasthani Dolls - Amer, Jaipur

Intense Wooden Carving @ Amer View Hotel - Amer Jaipur

I was up at 6 in the morning all set to go. We had stopped at the Amer fort last night to take some shots. It looked mighty impressive. The fort is situated in a valley and is the ideal point for holding the area. I found out that Amer is just outside of Jaipur and being in Amer gave me a sense of what it must have been like in ancient times. The city was really the size of a town that had few lights at night and few people during the day. It was located in a valley and the fort was just a little bit higher up the valley. There is a huge wall that surrounds the fort with viewing posts on the tops of the hills.

Raj Kumar, Our Guide for Jaipur

Anyhow, Anil the driver had gotten us a friend of his to guide us around. His name was Raj Kumar and he was about the same age as Anil; young. Very nice guy though. Anyhow by the time we got into the car it was close to 10 o clock. My sis wasn't feeling well the night before so we let her sleep in a little bit. Raj Kumar asked us if we wanted to go up Amer fort in an elephant ride! We all agreed to ride up in Maharaja style to the big gates of the fort. However, when we drove up to the fort, we were told that the rides for the day were over. They start at 7 am and end at 10 am. The government regulates the elephant riding to make sure the elephants aren't being overriden during the hot part of the day which starts at 10 am. Essentially they're looking out for the elephants. I was hugely dissapointed and vowed to myself when I come here next that I will take the elephant ride up.

Anil took us up the backway to the fort. This was old Amer. The streets were narrow, enough to fit an elephant or a chariot with cobblestone streets and miniture buildings. Imagine Disney's Alladin with the streets of Agrabah and you'll get a sense of what I'm talking about.

Close up of the wall Surrounding Amer Fort - Jaipur

When we got to the top of the road we were once again harassed by people trying to sell us stuff. They're really persistent. Raj Kumar, the guide quickly led us in and we bought our tickets and so started our magical tour of Amer fort.

View of Old Jaipur or Amer as it is called from Amer Fort - Jaipur

This fort was huge for being on a hill. You could see Amer town below and the viewing posts along the big walls on either hill to the sides from anywhere in the fort. It's hard to describe the fort itself. All I can say was it is probably my most favorite part of the trip. There were few people there so the earlier you start the better.

Amer Fort Sandstone Walls - Jaipur

Going up to the main part of the Fort - Amer Fort, Jaipur

View of the entrance to Amer Fort - Jaipur

Constant Renovations on Amer Fort - Jaipur

Entrance to the Wives Apartments and Bathouses - Amer Fort, Jaipur

Incredible Artwork on all of the walls at Amer Fort - Jaipur

The walls were made of yellow sandstone and laden with intricate hand carved designs.

Apartments for the Wives - Amer Fort

Rooms and Secret Passages line these walls at Amer Fort - Jaipur

Raj explained that the Rajput (king of Amer) loved the fort and had all of his 12 wives here. Raj took us up to one of their apartments and showed us that the apartments, while open were secluded enough that no other wife knew where the king was or who was with so the jealousy was kept to a minimum. Raj then showed us the secret passages that the king would use to get around Amer fort and to each of the wives apartments. I'll add here that Rajasthan artwork and history is laden with kings and their wives. I'll leave it at that lol.

Traditional "Jacuzzi/Bath/Shower" - Amer Fort, Jaipur

Area of Mirrors @ Amer Fort, Jaipur - You could light a candle at night and because of all the mirrors you could light up the entire area of the fort

Tiny Mirrors in the Area of Mirros - Amer Fort, Jaipur

Peeing Pigeon in the Queen's bathhouse - Amer Fort, Jaipur

We took one of these passages up to the bathrooms and various other parts of the fort. The history that was on these walls was breathtaking and it wasn't hard to see why Amer fort is revered for its beauty.

Workers renovating Amer Fort - Jaipur

Lady making noise because she was told to and she had no idea why she was doing it - Amer Fort, Jaipur

Raj led us down to the in house bazaar where I bought some souvenirs, including a rajasthani turban. There were ladies walking back and forth in the fort. Interestingly, there was a whole bunch of ladies clapping their sandals on a landing. We asked them why they were doing it to which they replied they had no idea and were asked to do it by the officials who run the place. We think it's to demonstrate that the sound travels all the way through the fort. Great acoustics.

Snake Charmers - Amer Fort

Snake Charmer (Mike and Carlos) - Amer Fort

Carlos being charmed by the music - Amer Fort

Carlos posing for the camera - Amer Fort

Invited over to sit with the Snake Charmers - Amer Fort

Petting Carlos, the King Cobra - Amer Fort

Wearing Carlos as a necklace - Amer Fort

All of us surprised as Carlos decides he doesn't want to be around my neck - Amer Fort

On the way back to the parking lot we ran into a snake charmer hiding out in a tiny alleyway of the fort. Snake charmers are banned in india, but here was one who invited me and my sis to come touch the cobra and wear it as a necklace. The cobra bit the charmer a couple of times in the process haha. It was a cool experience for sure and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Raj led us to a secret pasage way that was just being discovered. We took dank dark stairs down into a massive maze of tunnels. These tunnels were apparently used by the king to escape to safety if an attack occured.

New Passageway being discovered...Lazily - Amer Fort

Like I said, these passageways were still being dug out and discovered. So far the passageway leads to the summer palace aout 10 km away, and even further away to various other monuments. The passageway is wide and tall enough for a man on a horse, so he could get very far very fast.On the way back up, I spotted one of the dungeons used to keep prisoners. The prison was a 5 x 5 room with no access to any light and enough space for a full grown adult to sleep . It must have been horrible to be cooped inside of that.

And with that we headed back to the parking lot and were once again greeted with people trying to sell us stuff. They were more persistent this time thrusting stuff into our hands. Ultimately we bought a couple of things but told them to bugger off. What can you do? It's part of tourism.

Queens' Memorial - Jaipur

Queens' Memorial - Jaipur

The next stop was Jaipur city. We got off at a memorial for the wives of the King. This was a place with tombs spread across a lot of greenery. Very beautiful place.

As we drove further into Jaipur, Raj explained that one of the maharajas (when the Rajas were ruling the land) had the entire city painted pink to greet the British Queen's son when he visited. Hence the nickname "Jaipur, the Pink City". It's not actually pink, but teracotta. Some parts resemble more of a pink but it's mostly teracotta.

Sundial at Jaipur Observatory - Jaipur

Perpetual Weather Forecaster - Jaipur Observatory

Giant Sundial - Jaipur Observatory

Giant Sundial - Jaipur Observatory

Close-up of Sundial - Jaipur Observatory

We stopped at the Jaipur observatory which was a massive open ancient observatory that is incredibly accurate to this day. The observatory was used to measure the position of the earth, the time, where certain constellations were in the sky, and even forecast weather changes. This was all based on the sun and star movements in the sky using large sundials and large holes in the ground for markings of certain events during the year. The grounds are even divided into two halves with a big dial like device in each half indicating whether this half was accurate or the other half was accurate giving astronomers complete accuracy at all times. Once again this was based on the sun's position in the sky. This place was incredibly cool.

Jaipur Museum, a.k.a Pigeon Musuem - Jaipur

We next drove to the Jaipur Museum, which I nicknamed the pigeon museum because there was hundreds of pigeons calling the roof home. The inside of the museum was pretty interesting showing various paintings, texts, and lifestyle of the moghuls and rajas. Once again some of the paintings and texts were quite provacative. Some texts showed the rajas killing people and each other in the most brutal of ways. I.e. slitting throats and draining the blood into a golden bucket. These were warring times and every raja seeked ultimate control and power. We even got to see the art collected by the king and queens from ancient egypt (a preserved mummy), greece, bhurma, japan, and china. Very cool.

Hawa Malal - Jaipur

Hawa Malal - Jaipur

We drove by Hawa Mahal which was more apartments of the queens in Jaipur city. We didn't go in but it looked gorgeous from the outside.

Kulfi - Jaipur

We had lunch again at Gitz. This picture of a dessert called Kulfi, which is essentially Pistachio ice cream.

Jewellery Store - Jaipur

Pundit - Jaipur

Being told our life stories by the pundit - Jaipur

We then headed over to a Jaipur jeweller because they were supposedly the best in Jaipur. What we didn't expect to find was a pundit selling jewels who told us our life stories. Before we even told him anything, he asked for our date of birth, time of birth, and place of birth. From this he was able to calculate the correct stone for each of us and what we'd be doing and what we have done. He correctly stated that I was an engineer and that I was originally intending to be a software engineer. I called up Becca and got her info. I didn't tell him anything about her, but he correctly stated that she had an incredible interest in architecture and that it would be a succesful career for her if she chose to do it. He also told me that she and I are an incredibly good match. I won't say much more than that. We ended up buying our individual stones. Mine being a ruby that I have to wear as a pendant to give me my energy for my personality.

Amer Fort at Night - Jaipur

Amer Fort at Night - Jaipur

With that, we headed back to the hotel really beat and anticipating our long drive to Agra tomorrow.

Amer City at night - Jaipur

So long Srinigar, on the road again to Jaipur

2008-07-19T07:29:00.002+05:30

Dreamy Shikara - Srinigar, Kashmir

We bid our farewells at Srinigar.

We went through five security checks to get to the plane. One to enter the airport parking lot. One to check in our baggage and walk through the terminal. One to sit down at our boarding gate. One to walk to the plane and finally one to board the plane. Like I said, they really do their due dillegence here. I guess they can't afford to have anyone blow up anything in India which makes sense. The flight back was ok. Same thing as the first time.

Once again, getting off of the plane in Delhi was like stepping into an oven. Hot hot hot! During our baggage claim the power to the airport went out but was quickly diverted to another power source. We walked out to the parking lot to get to meet the driver who would take us to Jaipur. The car turned out to be a lot older than we wanted. My dad called up the travel agent peole and yelled at them for providing a bad car after paying a lot of money. Anyhow, Anil our current driver drove us to a waiting spot as the agency scrambled to send a newer car. While waiting, we found out that if you change the car you change the driver and Anil seemed like he was a fairly relaxed young guy who knew the ins and outs of everywhere we were going. The new car arrived which looked worse than the one we had so we told Anil we'd go with him.

We stopped at a quick self serve restaurant where I ate Indo-Chinese vegetable fried rice which was pretty good. I love having chinese food with indian spices. We drove by Haryana which is the newer part of Delhi. There were higher sky rise buildings and lots of freshly built malls scattered everywhere. I even saw my company's India branch here. Fancy looking indeed! I wish I had taken more photos on the way but I was pretty out of it.

Four and half hours later we had left Delhi, entered Rajastan and were sitting down in our hotel room in Amer, just outside of Jaipur. The room was ok at Amer view Hotel. There were quite a few foreigners in our hotel; all european.

Sparky and Amber Fort - Jaipur

Anil, the driver took us to Amber fort and then the summer palace just outside of Jaipur. Amber fort was simply breathtaking.

Amber Fort Close Up - Jaipur

The cool thing about the summer palace is that during the monsoon season it's bottom two floors are submerged in a lake. The only way to get to the palace is by a boat. Absolutely gorgeous!

Summer Palace (Submerged during Monsoon) - Jaipur

View of Summer Palace against the setting sky - Jaipur

Night Life - Jaipur

We drove around Jaipur quickly and went shopping a little bit. I got some more kurtas and short sleeves too; tailored especially to my tastes! We had dinner at a restaurant in the Gitz Hotel where there was a traditional folk dance by some singers and dancers.

Traditional Rajasthani Dancing - Gitz Hotel, Jaipur

Traditional Rajasthani Dancing - Gitz Hotel, Jaipur

Musician providing music for the dancers - Jaipur

The girls were pretty but couldn't have been much older than 16, 18 tops. The guys were ugly but they could sing well and the dancing was awesome all in all. They did all sorts of tricks such as dancing on nails and dancing with three pots on their heads. I'll let the photos speak for themselves, but the dancing was beautiful indeed.

Traditional Rajasthani Dancing - Gitz Hotel, Jaipur

Traditional Rajasthani Dancing - Gitz Hotel, Jaipur

Traditional Rajasthani Dancing - Gitz Hotel, Jaipur

Lost in the Music - Gitz Hotel, Jaipur

I pigged out again on Chicken Tikka Masala. It was so good and this was authentic Rajasthani Tandoor cuisine. I shouldn't have done that cause now I feel bloated hehe. Tomorrow we attack all of Jaipur! It's going to be a long day, but I can already tell I like Jaipur and Rajasthan.

Traditional Rajasthani Dancing - Gitz Hotel, Jaipur

Traditional Rajasthani Dancing - Gitz Hotel, Jaipur

Dancing with three pots on head - Gitz Hotel, Jaipur

Just happy to be dancing - Gitz Hotel, Jaipur

Dancing on a bed of nails - Gitz Hotel, Jaipur

Dance for me, my lovelies - Gitz Hotel, Jaipur

Horrible Srinigar

2008-07-19T07:21:00.003+05:30

Good Morning Srinigar! - Daal Lake, Srinigar

We woke up early morning to start our day by heading to Gulmarg. Gulmarg is a mountain resort in Kashmir that is situated about 60 km from where we were staying. The drive is about two hours. But before we got on our way it was early enough to catch all the action on the lake as the day started. There were parents taking their kids across the lake to let them go to school, farmers selling their stock, and genral commute back and forth on the lake. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Dropping the kids off at school is physically demanding here - Daal Lake, Srinigar

Mother returning from mainland after dropping her kids off - Daal Lake, Srinigar

A tired farmer trying to prove his stock is worth the price he's asking for - Daal Lake, Srinigar

A tired farmer, desperate to sell his stock - Daal Lak, Srinigar

After a while we were all set to go, but my dad started feeling quite sick. After five minutes on our drive to Srinigar, we had to pull over so he could throw up. The brother of the travel agent suggested we go to a chemist, which loosely translates to a pharmacist/doctor over in Canada. The chemist gave my dad some antibiotics and a few antacid tablets. We started our drive again.

Yesterday I saw the nice part of Srinigar. I quickly realized the "developed" part was just outside the Airport with fancy houses and shining windows. The Srinigar we drove through was very much old India. One lane narrow roads through busy streets with little maintenance being done. In retrospect I should have taken a lot more photos but was advised not to by the driver because there was of course an army officer always stationed every 50 m complete with good intimidation techniques and heavy weapon presence (AK 47 and tanks with huge chain guns). The drive to Gulmarg was interesting to say the least. The road was narrow and winding with a few potholes here and there.

My first impression when we first arrived at Gulmarg was wow... that's disgusting. No wait, a better a description would be Banff covered in plastic bottles, horse shit, plastic bags, and sewage all in one. Some resort... The shanti hotels barely resembled at best a very low class hostel and the stench was putrid. The mountain was covered in heavy fog and the elevation was 1700 m according to my tissot.

There are apparently only two things you can do at Gulmarg. One is to take the Gondola up and the other is to take a horse ride around. As soon as we stepped out of the car 5 horse sheparders surrounded us insisting we go for a horse ride. From this pack, our guide, who was the house worker for the travel agent's brother, Bilal, deemed one that was allowed to chat with us. Of course, he was good friends with him. The sheparder was a jerk and couldn't take "no we're not interested" as an answer. He kept insisting that there was nothing up on the gondola and it was a waste of money. He finally let us go, and another sheparder jumped at the chance to swoon us as we walked towards the Gondola. He just wouldn't leave us alone and finally my dad gave in. And so, we were all put on horses and followed a vehicle road up a little hill, away from the gondola towards the back area of Gulmarg.

Apparently, the area was used for the filming of Mission Kashmir (Hindi Movie) and is also the border between Kashmir and Independant Kashmir. Independant Kashmir being the Pakistani owned Kashmir. There are quite a few surprise attacks that occur from just over the border behind the trees.

Not too much to see at Gulmarg

My horse was too small for me and it was definitely not helping my stomach upsetdness. My sis desperately needed to go to the washroom so we started heading towards a kids park where there was suppsoed to be clean toilets. Along the way we stopped and one of our sheparders hit my horse in the face to make him go. The horse went too fast and in the opposite direction and I slipped off. I clung on for dear life as the saddle snapped of the horse. Before I hit the ground one of the sheperdards caught me. I got lucky otherwise I would have been covered in mud and horse shit. They gave me a new horse and we arrived at the kids park. You had to pay to get in and the place wasn't as great as they promised. There was nothing actually. The washrooms were really dingy and my sister was incredibly frustrated that she couldn't pee. So we travelled to the next washrooms which were porta pottys. Lol, she definitely wasn't going in there. Finally they headed towards the golf club while I stayed on my horse. One of the sheparders asked me how much my watch costed. I lied and told him I didn't know. I saw the look in his eyes.

Lonely Sheppard - Gulmarg, Srinigar

Horse Sheppards - Gulmarg, Srinigar

We finally got back to our car and we took a couple of pictures with the sheparders. I tried some egg fried rice at the local restaurant while Bilal, our useless guide ate our packed lunch because we refused to eat Kasmiri food. It wasn't treating us well. Egg fried rice with kashmiri style of cooking isn't so good.

Kashmiri Carpet Store - Srinigar

Carpets Galore - Srinigar

We headed back to Srinigar and it was already pretty late in the afternoon. My parents decided to check out one more carpet place and we ended up liking the guys because we could barter with them. They bought two kashmiri carpets both quite exquisite silk on silk. The salesperson asked us not to tell the travel agent's brother that we bought from them, otherwise they would charge heavy commission for referring us to them. And so it all began to unravel what the kashmiri trip was all about. We then headed back to the boathouse and the travel agent insisted that we talk to a jeweller to see real kashmiri jewellery. The guy was stupid. I think by this point, I was getting fed up with India because everyone is connected and everyone refers toursists to everyone else to see how much money they can make them spend.

Silk on Silk Carpet - Srinigar

With that, I went to sleep. I don't ever want to come back to Srinigar or visit houseboats again. I honestly felt that this part of the trip was a complete waste and I definitely will not refer those travel agents back in Delhi to anyone. Pshaw!

Night sets on Daal Lake

To be fair though, Kashmir is always under constant attack and I guess if you've grown up with that lifestyle day in and day out you do what you can to survive. Just because I have harsh words to say about Srinigar it doesn't mean anyone else shouldn't check it out. It's a beautiful landscape; if only it wasn't under a constant tug of war between two nations, it could be great. Why can't we all just get along?

Sunset at Daal Lake - Simple beauty of Srinigar (I would come back if only to witness this again)

Goodbye Delhi, Hello Beautiful Srinigar (Paradise on Earth)

2008-07-19T07:19:00.004+05:30

Our flight was at 10 am. We left the Aditi B&B at 8 am. We had a couple of parathas and we waved bye to the help. I have to admit, I wasn't too impressed with Delhi, but I think in another 10 to 15 years it will be better. The drive to the airport was nice and quick as traffic is light at 8 am.

We arrived at the airport and at first everything was going smoothly. Check in was nice and quick with Air Deccan, but that's where the relaxation ended and the frustration began. We were shuffled into a lineup for security checks on the hand baggage as well as the scanning of individuals. There were 5 lanes. 1 lane for the ladies and four for the men but the lines were huge. There were only 2 police officers regulating the five lanes. It took so long for people to get through the security checks that some passengers missed their flights and others were shuffled to the front of the line so that they wouldn't is theirs... After half an hour of that we were finally sitting with a view of the dingy domestic departures. Once again we were shuttled to our flight, which wasn't that different from Spice Jet and we were on our merry way to Srinigar.

The flight was nice and quick. We arrived in Srinigar an hour later and at first sight it looked amazingly simliar to Calgary, except more luscious with greenery. At first sight, Kashmir truly lives up to its motto "Paradise on Earth". The climate was similar to Calgary, but a little bit more humid. The Srinigar airport was tiny and as soon as we got off the plane we noticed the heavy police and military presence here. Every officer was carrying an AK47 rifle. There was only one baggage claim and the arrival building was a 20 x 20 foot building. The baggage claim looked like it could only hold suitcases as wide as a shriveled up midget and the washrooms had paper sheets attached to them identifying which was mens and which was womens. As a law, all foreigners have to register with the Kashmiri governing body by filling out a form stating what you are in Kashmir for, who you are visting, for how long, and where you are going to go once you leave Kashmir. They really do their due dilligence here I must admit.

Brother of Travel Agent & Houseboat Host

We walked out towards the car and met the brother of the travel agents in Delhi. We drove into Srinigar and I was startled to see houses as big as the ones in Canada with big windows and plots. Even the malls were a bit more modern. It was kinda weird considering this state is on the border with so many other countries and is the most remote part of India. There were army and office personnel on every block monitoring the streets with their rifles and bullet proof vests. Kashmiris are increibly white and pale. You could easily mistake them for caucasians dressed up in fancy traditional clothing.

Houseboat on Daal Lake

Shikara on Daal Lake

Inside of Shikaras, Daal Lake

Half an hour later, we were staring at our destination; a beautiful houseboat named the Highland queen across Daal Lake. We had to take a sikhara, which is a fancy word for a boat to get to our accomodation. The Shikara boats are similar to the thailand floating market boats, but the colors in the shikaras are more punchy.

Fishing in a Shikara on Daal Lake - This is how relaxing it can be in Srinigar

Strange Green Undergrowth, Daal Lake

The lake is ten to fifteen feet deep at the deepest point. It also had some strange green growth underneath the water that you could almost touch if you stuck your hand in there. It looked like submerged pine trees only smaller and thinner. Once in our houseboat, we had some kashmiri tea.Kashmiri tea consists of green tea and other herbs as well as cinammon and is quite tasty. You can either have it with sugar or without. I of course chose no sugar and it was yummy :)

Traditional Kashmiri Dress

Kashmiri Outfit Photographers

After tea, our host made us dress up in traditional kashmiri outfits and take photos which was fun. Interestingly the photographers were still using film cameras 25 years old. The dressing up was fun and something different. We had some lunch and headed on our way for sightseeing around Srinigar. The scenery is beautiful from the houseboat.

Srinigar - View of Daal Lake with houseboats

First stop was a temple up on a mountain. Oh yeah, there's also mountains everywhere in Srinigar and it's about 600 m higher than Calgary. These are the start of the himalaya mountains and these are tiny. I can only imagine how much larger the mountains are as you further north. Anyhow, once we went through two security checks of careful inspections of our hand baggage and our vehicle we drove up a long and narrow windy road to the base of the temple. Another three hundred steps up and I was staring at a Shiv-ling, which is a big black barrel with three white lines on it's "forehead". Apparently this temple was built in the fifth century and it is where Shiva rested. As a result a lot of hindus come here. It's quite the view from the top and that itself makes the strenous trek worth it. As a side note, all religious places of worship will not allow you to take cameras so either be prepared to leave your luggage with the army or give it to your driver.

Moghul Garden, Srinigar

Some Native Flowers to Srinigar

Our Tour Guide at another Mughal Garden, Srinigar

Mother and Son at Moghul Garden, Srinigar

We then headed back down and went to various mughul gardens. These are the same gardens that the moghuls used three to four hundred years ago. Nothing to great to see in my opinion. Well, I should be fair, I was very tired I've seen better and far more impressive elsewhere. But, the gardens are beautiful and well maintained. It's pretty wild to imagine that these were the same gardens that were used by the moghuls centuries ago and it's understandable why they loved this place.

Looming Rain Clouds

Floating Vegetable Garden and Harvester

Beautiful Daal Lake at Srinigar

Vegetable Picker Daal Lake

We came back to the houseboat and decided to go for some shopping. The cool thing was, we got to take the shikara and travel around the floating market. This part of the journey in the evening was quite relaxing and beautiful. Of course it started raining on us and we found ourselves inside a papier mache and carpet place. Kashmir is known for their papier mache and kashmiri carpets which are world renowned and right up there with persian carpets. We quickly perused the papier mache stuff and then decided to go look at carpets. The sales guy at the carpets place was nice but the price of the carpets were just too out of our range.We took a look at some silk on silk carpets that costed as much as up to $15000 canadian for a 9 x 12 carpet.

Papier Mache, Floating Market on Daal Lake

Carpet Salesman checking his books

We backed away from that place as quickly as possible and instead focussed our efforts on kashimri shawls and dresses. The dresses were ok, but the shawls were cooler. After some intense bargaining and a slight shuffle of the feet we walked away with 14 items at an incredibly good price and headed back to the houseboat. The power had gone out so of course we couldn't take a hot shower. Called it a night at 8 o clock.

Pashmina Store Daal Lake

Sales Person at the Pashmina Shawl Floating Store

Goodnight Srinigar, Floating Market at Daal Lake

The great Delhi Adventure part 2

2008-07-19T07:17:00.005+05:30

Morning 6 - 8 am

I woke up to my dad fiddling with the light switches and trying to get the AC to start working. It turns out I slept through a huge thunderstorm complete with intense rain which had taken the power out. The fridge was leaking and the fan was on... The funny thing is the emergency generator only powered basic lights as well as the fan. The fridge was not deemed an emergency service.

7 am
The power has come back on, but of course the internet is dead again. I'll go fix it after I workout and eat.

8 am
The internet never did come back on. This next part is probably only for electrical engineers as they'd be the only ones who find it funny. I went with the helpers down to their Circuit room which was just at the foot of the stairs. This guy had had opened up one of the Motor Control Centres to see the live busses. He had a tiny screwdriver with no insualtion whatsoever that he was touching every phase with. He turned to me and explained that one of the phases was not working. I couldn't help but laugh as he touched the next busbar which happened to be a live phase and quickly recoiled. I just said ok, and went on back to the room. The low voltage here is 440V before it's stepped down further for residential use.

Anyhow, we ended up grabbing breakfast which the workers had prepared. We had aloo parathas, muli parathas, and bread omlettes complete with freshly squeezed orange juice. Parathas are like naan but thinner that are stuffed with vegetable mash. Aloo is potato and Muli is raddish. I like the raddish ones a lot better as they were nice and light. You dip the parathas in the supplied curd (yogurt). After we ate the travel agent and the driver came to pick us up to start our big Delhi tour. After a quick stop at their office to discuss the rest of our North India Tour, we started our sightseeing.

The weather was icky, but I've been told this is what it is mostly until the winter months. Heavy cloud cover with intense baking heat and sweaty humidity. It was about 32 degrees here. It's a good thing we had hired a driver or else we probably would have been only able to see two or three places because of the intense heat.

Parliamentary Gate

Our first stop was at the PTI building. This was where my dad had worked 20 years ago. We took a couple of snaps here but were harassed by the machine gun wielding security guard who rudely informed us that we were not allowed to be here. There's a security guard at the entrance of every building here in Delhi. Some have guns, some don't. There have been too many terrorist attacks on the capital and as a result security is at an all time high. After finding our driver we headed up to parliament street to see the parliamentary buildings. Nothing too great to see here. They were massive buildings but once again because of the intense security we were ushered off.

India Gate From the Back

India Gate Inscription

H2G0, India Gate Thirst

The next stop was India Gate. We got out and walked around the India gate which is a big sandstone arch with engravings of India. There was a fence all around the arch with security guards once again and as a result we were not allowed to walk into the arch. Yet another quick stop. We then headed over to the Delhi Red Fort. The red fort was constructed by Shah Jahaan for the obvious reason of protecting Delhi. This fort isn't to be confused with the Agra Red Fort. We grabbed our tickets from the ticket counter. The interesting thing here to note is that there are huge lineups, but any lady can cut the line and grab tickets for the whole family. Weird eh? So after my mom grabbed us our tickets we walked to the entrance of the red fort. We had to go through a scanner and had our bags checked again.

Delhi Red Fort Shopping Bazaar/Grand Entrance

Delhi Red Fort - First building you see once you go through massive White Arches

We walked through massive white arches, through the gift centre, and into the main courtyard area. The red color comes from the red sandstone used. It's hard to describe the area. The main courtyard is a huge garden with walkways left and right that first lead to the King's throne. The throne is in an open area and not enclosed. I guess he would make all his speeches and decisions from here. THere were tiny windows to the left and right of his throne in the back wall. This is where women from his harem would overlook the courtyard area.

Entrance to the Bath Houses - Delhi Red Fort

Close up of Marble at Bath houses - Delhi Red Fort

Masala Lemon Juice outside Delhi Red Fort

We headed towards each of his bathouses and then to the mosques.But other than that there wasn't too much to see. On the way out I checked out the war museum, which wa intersting but unsatisfying, probably because I've seen better in and around Hyderbad. The only other interesting thing I can say about the Delhi red fort is that the prime minister of India holds a national address every year on August 15 behind Bulletproof glass and intense security. As we waited for our driver, my dad made me try lime juice with masala spices. I was incredibly thirsty and I downed two of them... Every blog I've read so far advises against this, but I didn't have any problems.

Flower Seller at Rajghat Memorial Park- You buy flowers from this lady so that you can show your respects by placing the flowers on Gandhi's Black Slab

Gandhi's Memorial at Rajghat Memorial Park

Elephant outside Rajghat Memorial

Our next stop was the Rajghat Memorial, which is a memorial to Gandhi. Gandhi's ashes are enclosed in a huge black marble slab which you get to walk around. As a sign of respect, you can even put flower petals in front of his slab. One again the security is heavy. On our way out we ran into two kids offering elephant rides up and down the street. We weren't interested.

Lotus Temple - Delhi

Next stop, was Lotus Temple, which is an impressive modern day building in which the hindus go and pray in. We took one look at the line and decided that it wasn't worth the wait. So next stop was what I was looking forward to all day, qutb Minar.

Qutb Minar - Delhi

Qutb Minar Inscriptions - Delhi

In and around the Qutb Minar - Delhi

The Qutb Minar area is essentially a memorial area with tombs of various moghuls and the asoka stone. Qutb Minar itself is an impressive 28 m stone tower with crazy architecture and inscriptions all the way up the tower. It was constructed in the twelth century and is the tallest stone tower in India. The tower is made up of alternating cylindrical and triangular columns with a story engraved in a cylindrical fashion all the way up the tower.

Intricate Carving in and around Qutb Minar - Delhi

Aside from that, the other interesting thing is the Asoka Stone. Legend has it if you can wrap your arms around the Asoka stone behind you, then you are incredibly lucky and wise. However, it of course was fenced off. The Asoka Stone is an iron pillar with an inscription of some sort of rise to power that Asoka underwent. I took a pic of the inscription but it's in old english so I don't really understand what it is trying to say.

Tomb of Illtutmish at Qutb Minar - Delhi

We finished up fairly quickly after that and decided it was high time we ate, so we headed to Pindi Restaurant which was what would be considered a middle class restaurant. Food was good, but I ended up stuffing my face way too much and with non veg no less. I've decided to only stick to veggies until I deem it absolutely safe to eat otherwise.

And so with dinner done at the restaurant, we headed back to the B&B and called it a night. The power was back on but I was way too beat. I sweated a lot today and my shirt is full of sweat stains. Now I know better... sheesh. Tomorrow morning is an early departure for Srinigar, Kashmir.

The Great Delhi Adventure Part One

2008-07-13T04:51:00.001+05:30

We arrived at Delhi International Airport at 1:20 pm. Once again the plane landed in the middle of the strip. If I thought Bangalore was bad in terms of heat and humidity then Delhi is hell in comparison. I stepped off of the plane and instantly into 32 degree weather with intense humidity. Man I'm glad I was wearing shorts. We were bussed into the airport which was a step down from Bangalore airport. The ceilings were falling apart and the conveyor belts in the baggage claim looked like they haven't changed in 20 years.

We walked out with our baggage and I noticed that they were slowly upgrading this airport with new architecture, probably to match Bangalore's. As we walked out, we saw signs from two different drivers who were waiting for us. We nodded at both but were confused as to why our Bed and Breakfast (Adithi) would send two drivers. We called the place up and they told us that the guy with the bigger car was the correct person to go with. We hopped into his toyata safari which is equivalent to the toyota solaris and started driving into Delhi. It was evident this place was rich with historical culture with the scattered statues and big parks. The traffic wasn't as bad and it wasn't as busy as I expected.

We drove by the president's estate which was a huge achorage. We drove by connaught place which is this circular ring road with a whole bunch of shops. It turns out that this is the central hub of New Delhi. As we drove past connaught, my dad started asking the driver where he was heading. He said he was taking us to Adithi palace hotel which is further on. My dad was pretty sure it was in connaught place but decided to see where the driver was taking us. About twenty minutes later we crossed into Old Delhi into a place called darya genga Our driver took our huge jeep into a tiny gulley (alley way). The place looked very sketchy... I don't know how to describe it thoroughly but I know for sure it wasn't safe and this wasn't the main part of Delhi. We stopped halfway down the gulley and our driver pointed to a little hole in the wall called the Hotel Aditi Palace. We didn't even go inside. We took one look at the place and also the area and told the driver this wasn't the place and instructed him to take us back to connaught place to the other Aditi. He said he didn't know any other Aditi Hotel. We told him it was a bed and breakfast and once again insisted that he take us back. Now the fun part... He tried to drive out of the gulley but the cars parked on either side, the number of pedestrians motorbikes and cars coming head on made it impossible. So we backed out of the gulley, which tok us 10 minutes to get in and 45 minutes to get out off .

Once back on the road we travelled back to connaught place and found the other Aditi bed and breakfast. The place was decent and it was close to the central hub. However the room wasn't that great. The funny thing is we ran into the other driver from the airport there... If only we went with him in the first place lol. Anyhow, we decided to take a look at another place and this driver was insistent that he take us there free of charge and so he called up another driver in a nicer jeep. Along the way it came into light that he was also a travel agent and he wanted us to see one of his hotels in the same area. We drove into a place called Karol Bagh, which was apparently close to where we used to live 20 years ago. This area was equivalent to the commercial district in Bangalore. Just buzzing with people and all different types of shops. By now, the weather, especially the humidity was getting to me and I was finding it hard to breathe.

We reached the first hotel and my dad, sis, and mom left me with the driver to make sure our luggage didn't magically dissapear. The travel agent went with my family into the hotel while the driver attempted to chat with me in hindi. I understood him perfectly, however I couldn't string a sentence together for the life of me in hindi so we ended up talking in hinglish. The driver's name was Gurvinder and he was from the neighboring state Rajhastan. He came to Delhi five years ago and lives in the company office along with 85 other drivers. Crazy crazy. I should have taken a picture of him but I was trying my hardest to keep breathing. Damn Asthma. The first place turned out to be worse so we spent the next hour and half driving the tight and busy gulleys and only within 500 m of the district trying to find the other hotel called Southern Travels. Once again my family left me with the driver who had to drive about 400 m down the road so that he wouldn't be honked at anymore. It was funny to see the look on my family's faces when they looked around and didn't see me or the jeep. They must have thought I was kidnapped, but I waved at them until they saw me and they walked on over.

We finally decided to drive back to Aditi Bed and Breakfast. The travel agent wanted us to come check out his office but insisted we take rest for half an hour. I was dying of hunger and the lack of ability to breathe by now so I laid down. I wish I had taken some pictures of our adventure thus far but I was too weak. Half an hour later, my dad and I headed into the central hub of connaught place to see the travel agent's office. We drove behind the circular building and into a tiny gulley, got out and walked to a hole in the wall which was an 8 x 8 space divided into half for two offices. We met the brother of the travel agent and half an hour later he had convinced us to add a Kashmir visit to our North India tour along with Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. We have 5 nights and 5 and a half days to do this in. As we drove out of connaught place I noticed in the midst of all the shops there was a subway, pizza hut, starbucks, baskin robbins, and a mcdonalds. Well the Mcdonalds was really a shack that only served the chicken burgers.

We got back to the bed and breakfast and ate a little dinner which wasn't that great. I then went and fixed their wifi internet connection for them. They've got two linksys wireless routers but have no idea how to use them. The manager did but he was out on business of course. So after they tried fiddling around for half an hour I went and fixed it myself in 5 minutes and uploaded some stuff to my blog. I was dying so I decided to hit the sack.

July 11 - On the Flight

2008-07-11T20:39:00.001+05:30

I woke up at 6 am this morning after 5 hours of sleep. Surprisingly I felt more awake than I had in a while. I must be slowly getting adjusted to the new timings. Today we departed for Delhi to starty off the North India tour. We drove out to the airport at 8 am and got there at 9:30. The distance was only 40 km. Because I arrived at night, I didn't see the airport as it truly was. Driving up in daylight was eye opening. The airport was only one building and about half the size of the Calgary airport. It was a big rectangular box with an interesting wavy rooftop. Our airlines called the spiceJet (all one word) is a small aircraft.

Well I'm jumping ahead of myself here. Let me descrie the check in process a bit better. To enter the airport you have to show your flight itinerary to security guards at the entrance. Once you get past them, you have to check in, which is a little it strange as everyone rushes to the counter at once even if there is a lineup. The guys behind us would throw their papers on the counter, which of course the attendant ignored so it was a bit weird. Also, checking in our baggage, the guys behind us would put their luggage on the conveyor belt at the same time.

We then headed upstairs to get to our gate but we first had to go through the scanning of our carry ons as well as us. The line was divided into ladies and men. The ladies line had virtually no one in it. We said bye to my mom and our sis as they headed over to that line and we headed to our line. Again like the check in process the lineup was tightly packed and everyone was throwing their stuff into the xray machine no matter where they were in line, which I thought was pretty unsafe considering some guy ahead of you could take your carry on once he got to the other side. But, that never happens. Once we got past that we headed into the waiting area in front of the gate. THe interesting thing about India is that there is way too many people and hardly any space. All the seats were filled in front of every gate so my family and I stood around waiting for the boarding time.

When boarding time came along, we were ushered onto a shuttle bus and driven into the middle of the strip to our tiny spiceJet flight. I say tiny because it's a small plane but now that I seated inside I see that there must be at least 150 people on this flight. India is good at maximizing space usage with minimal footprint. Anyhow, all of this brings me now to me being seated on the airplane on my way to delhi typing this up. I uploaded most of my pics from yesterdays walkabout but haven't had a chance to upload them yet. I'm hoping there's internet wherever we are staying in India. The flight from Bangalore (which is pretty deep south in India) to Delhi (which is far north in India) is only expected to take 2 and half hours. I've already used up 1 hour catching up on my blog posts.

Things of Note

2008-07-11T20:38:00.002+05:30

I've decided that I'd keep a things of note log to see how many suttle differences I could notice being a coconut and all.

1. Traffic laws are not obeyed here. There was a huge sign on one of the roads listing all of the fines for various traffic offences, such as seat belt usage being mandatory. The funny thing is no one follows these rules. They're more sort of guidelines.

There are three general types of vehicles.
- The auto rickshaw which is a three whel motorbike with a cover.
- The compact car
- Motorbikes

There are plenty of each vehicle. The popular brand for compact cars is the Maruti Suzuki which is a joint venture between Maruti and Suzuki. The sidevew mirrors on these cars are very close to the vehicles and in fact are sometimes folded in. The reason for this is because a normal three lane road usually turns into a 5 lane road. 6, if you include the motorbikes which interweave through traffic like crazy much like the auto rickshaws.

If you need to cross a street you start walking into oncoming traffic and hope to God the traffic stops for you. Haha ok, the hoping to God part I added in but generally traffic does stop for you.

If you are an experienced driver in India you can drive through tiny alleyways that fit the car with a centimeter to spare on either side with the sideview mirrors folded out.

2. Personal space is non existant. Because there are so many people trying to do things here, I've noticed that people tend to squish together or are in your face when they talk to you. It can be a little bit awkward at first but you get used to it pretty fast and in fact you find yourself returning the favor more often than not. I.e. shoving your way through crowds without saying excuse me. Sometimes even pushing if need be.

3. The pollution is insane in the cities. The entire time I was in Bangalore I never saw blue skies. Just a constant overcast. I thought this was just cause it was monsoon season, but the drive out to the airport around 8 in the morning showed the sun peaking through the clouds every now andthen with blue skies. As the day roles on the haze becomes more and more thick.

4. Bangalore has a climate that is very similar to Calgary's. It's slightly more humid but it is very tolerable.

5. Bangalore is actually called Bengaluru.

6. There are luxury bathrooms when you are walking around the streets. Although, I have been advised not to use them at all costs lol.

7. Kids are catered to by every family. Kids always come first and they are the main consideration when any decision is taken. This isn't to say the kids are spoiled, just that they are the future generation and as such are treated with all aspects of their comfort in mind.

So far India has been overwhelming in many ways and at the same it's been relaxing and fun. I haven't completely destressed yet as we keep moving from place to place, but I think the relaxation will come sooner than later. I realize I've only got 15 more days here in India. 8 of which are being used up on the North India tour. When I do come back next, I will only visit one or two places for three weeks.

Hey I just noticed there are Japanese tourists on this flight and one of them is playing on his DS Lite. Haha, I dunno why, but that's reassuring.

July 10 - In and around Bangalore

2008-07-10T23:14:00.004+05:30

Hard Rock Bangalore

Today was a different pace. Woke up today at a decent time, 7 am. Worked out and stretched my legs so that my shoulder and knees could take the abuse of the upcoming day. Had an awesome filling breakfast and showered. We decided to check out my uncle's office. I guess I should explain what my uncle does.

My Uncle at his office

My uncle started a human resources firm here in Bangalore about seven years ago. He's done quite well for himself and his company has become one of the more established firms here in India working with companies like Microsoft, IBM, etc... My uncle has got an office in the main part of Bangalore. He and his wife employ about 15 people. Mostly women, and two guys as far as I saw. The rental is approximately Rs. 35000 for 2500 square feet. As I was taking photos in and around the various rooms, my uncle asked me to take a look at all the walls in the rooms and to provide some photos that inspired training and knowledge that he could use. Of course, I was delighted at this prospect so I went snap happy.

Tali at Nagurjana

As it was now getting to be around 1pm, we were all starting to feel pretty hungry. My dad wanted to dine authentic "Tali" style. Tali means that you get served a whole bunch of vegetarian dishes like lentils, chutneys, yogurt, etc... on a big banana leaf that you use as a plate. For carbs, the usual rice is provided. The cool part is it is an unlimited amount of food. You can keep stuffing yourself as much as you want, but I'll get to that. The women went ahead to grab us all a seat as us males navigated our way through busy traffic and small blocks. Auto Rikshas (Local taxicabs which are really motorbikes with a 2 wheel axle in the back) are plentiful in India. Now the funny thing is, the restaurant we were planning on going to was only about two kilometres away. Because drivers of these rikshas need to make as much money as possible they will turn you down if the distance is to close. As a result, we had to flag down about 15 rikshas before one driver finally caved and said he'd drive us over for an upfront amount which of course he gets to decide.

Traffic at commercial street intersection

Why the drive for only 2 kilometres? The roads in Bangalore are fairly clean, but traffic is insane. It's hard to cross the roads without being driven into by ever riksha, car, and motorbike trying to get to some place. Not the safest way to travel if you are a foreigner.

Waiter at Nagurjuna serving Rice

We arrived at our destination which was a restaurant called Nagurjuna. Not sure what it means but what the hey. We met the women and ordered ourselves some tali. To be on the safe side, my sister ordered the standard butter chicken lol. In hindisight I probably should have done the same thing. Anyhow, my dad insisted that I try all the spicy pickles as well as the fried chilis. I like to pride myself on being a big eater of spicy food back home, but I couldn't do too much. The spicyness wasn't apparent right away. About halfway through my lunch I started feeling too full. This is the result of too much spicy food haha. I barely managed to finish my first serving of food and decided to call it quits. I had the same amount of food as an EDO serving home. That's how heavy the food is. My sister who had the butter chicken with naan was laughing the entire time.

Our Parking Stall minutes away from Commercial Street in front of Disabilities Building

After lunch, we decided to hit "commercial district." My aunt drove us to a parking lot situated about ten minutes away from commercial street. The parking lot was beside a building for the disabled. I quickly learned that each parking lot had about a dozen "parking guides". These parking guides would regulate the usage of stalls and parking of the vehicle in the stall. As a standard, the service is worth a Rs. 5 tip, which is mandatory.

An alley in commercial street

Old Bangalore vs. New Bangalore

We walked to the commercial street and decided to do some shopping. I finally got some kurtas (indian style shirts). The whole shopping walk lasted about an hour or so. When we finally got back to my uncle's apartment I decided to lie down in bed for just ten minutes. Next thing I know, I wake up 3 hours later and it's 8 pm. I'm still not used to the new timings and I've been running on a grand total of 8 hours of sleep.

I stayed up with the uncle and my parents and the question of me seeking a girl for marriage came up lol. I explained I'm already commited to Becca and I'd probably marry within 2 years. My uncle was pretty cool with that and insisted that I bring her over to India sometime.

July 9, 10:35 - Arriving in Bangalore

2008-07-09T22:28:00.008+05:30

We arrived @ Bangalore International Airport at 1:20 am. It was not quite what I was expecting at all. Here was a huge beautiful white building that looked like a quarter of the Hong Kong airport was taken out and put in the middle of India. Not only was it gorgeous, it was emmaculately clean. Immigration was a little bit of a hassle because of my camera gear. I was asked to show the contents of my camera bag including the laptop. After a little bit of a discussion, we were allowed to pass through the doors. The humidity was about 60% and it hit like a stinky dog. My clothes instantly felt heavy and my eyes became groggy.

We met my uncle who gave me a quick hug and we were ushered forward to the taxi cabs along with our 7 pieces of luggage. My uncle brought his little miata but definitely not enough to carry all the luggage so he rented out a taxicab. The model was a Toyota Innova, 2.5 L which is equivalent to a Sienna in Canada. The total up front amount for the rental was $30 Canadian. After waiting around the airport with the cab driver to meet up with my uncle we headed into town Bangalore. Although we were traveling at an average of 80 km/h, it still took a while. All in all, the airport was 40 km away from the city.

It was a crazy scary drive into town. First off it was fairly evident that my uncle didn't know how to go back into town. With the roads being so new and the airport being so "far away", it was understandable that he lost his way every now and then and we had to do a few U-Turns. And also, to his credit, it was 3 am in the morning for him so grogginess was definitely understandable. There were a few abrupt stops and it became all too clear that traffic laws are not upheld, but then again I knew that already.

As the freshly paved highways with their bright "in the middle of nowhere" street lights transitioned into old roads with deep potholes and aging buildings I couldn't help but feel I was a complete stranger in my own country. I didn't recognize anything and at the same time, I recognized everything. Coming into the main part of the city, it became clear that Bangalore indeed was on the forefront of a new way of living in India. By the time we reached my uncle's house an hour on the road had passed and the time was now 3 am. Once again, we only drive 40 km with hardly anyone on the road. I'm afraid to see what rush hour in Bangalore would be like.

We chatted away the remainder of the night with my uncle and his wife in their very modern apartment complete with western toilets. The apartment is a very nice 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom layout. It has two balconies and also marble flooring and concrete walls. By the time I hit the sack again it was 12 pm local time. I thought I'd only take a ten minute nap but it turned out to be a 3 hour sleep. Food wasn't sitting well with me all day which was frustrating because everything tasted so good and I couldn't eat it. The moment of truth came when I finally had to use the washroom. Ah well, when in Rome... lol

We hit the streets in the evening, going to a local shopping mall but we didn't buy anything. There was a slight drizzle and I survived yet another drive through crazy roads with my family.

My Cousin with his new binoculars

My younger cousins have really taken to me. One is 13 and one is 8. The 8 year old can be a handful but he's quite fun to have around and I find myself liking him as well. I don't mind sticking around in Bangalore for another day and if our schedule would allow it, it'd be nice to stick around here for the entire trip. I love this family and I like being fairly relaxed even though I still find myself thinking about home and work every 5 minutes. Took some pictures, but nothing fantastic. I'll have to try harder tomorrow when I'm not feeling so light headed or nauseas.

Braindead in Hong Kong #2

2008-07-08T19:09:00.002+05:30

Well nothing's cheap here. We ended up buying some duty free booze. I walked around a little bit to take some shots for Becca, cause I know she'd like this stuff. Now for my continued rant on Cathay Pacific. The seats were cramped and I had no space to fit my carry on underneath the seat or the seat in front of me because they have stupid built in boxes. The movies were on a continuous loop and there were only three movies. The only one, I even remotely knew off was Street Kings starring Keanu Reeves. I wanted chicken for lunch, but they ran out. I had the chicken for dinner and my sis ended up puking because it was nasty. All in all, it was a very horrible boring flight. I know this is a little bit jumbled up, but when we got to Hong Kong I had enough time to type up Braindead in Hong Kong #1. In the middle of typing up Braindead in Hong Kong #2 my dad and I decided to go and grab a camera for the family we're staying with in Bangalore. We negotiated an awesome deal and were about to seal it with a credit card when my mom showed up winded. She quickly told us that the plane for Bangalore was about to leave without us because they were waiting on us! We ran all the way down the terminal to meet my sis in front of the gate and were rushed into the plane. The flight was good. Defintely a step up from Cathay Pacific. I flew on Dragon Air btw. I slept through most of it and got served Lamb Korma!

Next will be my post on coming into Bangalore...

Braindead in Hong Kong

2008-07-08T18:15:00.000+05:30

Here at Hong Kong enjoying free wifi. GO Asia! Don't have much time. Airport is funky cool. Steph and Becca would think architecture is cool. My eyes are bloodshot and have horrible ripping headache. Local time is 8:30 July 8. Can't chat too long, have to buy stuff for relatives. Everything so expensive here. Cathay Pacific airlines blew chunks. Worst food, entertainment, and personal space arrangements ever! Will expand on this later, but not looking forward to 19 hour flight back to Vancouver alone :(

Took some picture, will upload to appropriate blogs when I get a chance. Flying on Dragon Air from here to Bangalore at 10:20 local time. Another 5 hours to go! Hopefully I won't upchuck with more airline food. Trying to eat as little as possible because the lack of sleep doesn't really help either.

Anyhow, will text from Bangalore. Till then, cheers!

Bored in Calgary/Vancouver

2008-07-08T18:14:00.002+05:30

Typing away at Vancouver airport

Patiently waiting at Vancouver Airport

It's 10:30 pm and we've just checked in all our luggage. Boarding time is 11:30 not 1 pm as expected. Departure is at 12:10. It's funny, I love flying on planes but this is the first time I'm thinking about "What if the plane crashes?" Must be the old age. It's a good thing we got up early because we could catch the earlier flight outta here. My sis is scowling at me because I'm typing on the laptop killing time while she's sitting on the floor. I gotta admit having a laptop is freaking cool. I'm only typing on it but it's pretty fun to have. Even though there's no internet here in Calgary, I feel like I'm still connected. Well anyhow, time to hibernate it so that it boots up when the harassing officers ask me to show them that it isn't an explosive device. Probably gonna start listening to Mraz.

Oh and the altitude here in Calgary is 1079m above sea level.
________________________________________

I was going to put the Vancouver stuff in a separate post, but figured it belonged in here. We had two hours to kill in Vancouver and were confined to a very small international terminal. Ate at subway and that's the first time I've such a horrible sub. The terminal was kinda cool. I took some shots, but mostly just lounged around. No free wifi! Ah well. I'll have to post when I get a chance.

Last Minute Packing

2008-07-07T11:50:00.000+05:30

It'll be way past midnight by the time I'm done packing everything for the trip. It's about half past 11pm on Sunday night. This blog is more of a test than anything else. It's kind of weird typing on Vic's laptop. Everything is so much smaller and I feel like I've got fat fingers. I'm using my new ftp backup space to host the pictures here. I guess I should explain the green card pictures.

I went and got my "Green" card on Saturday from the Calgary Airport Customs. After about half an hour of rude service and $4 later I had my stamp on my green card from the customs officer.

The "green card" is used to identify all expensive items, such as the photography equipment, that you are taking out of the country. That way when you come back into the country, you can present the card to prove that you didn't buy any crazy goods that you have to declare.

Well now it's about midnight. I have to get up at 6 am. The taxi is coming to pick is up at 9am. Flight is at 1 in the afternoon. Apparently, we're convinced that luggage check in will take at least an hour, which I wouldn't put past the airport authority. Either way, I know I'll be sleeping like crazy for the first couple of hours of the flight. But I'm getting ahead of myself... I'll be flying from here to Vancouver. From Vancouver a long flight over to Hong Kong, and then onto Bangalore. It's an hour to Vancouver with a two hour "wait" over there. And then something like 17 hours over to Bangalore. I'll post when I can and I'm pretty sure I'll have at least 50 pics by the time I get to Hong Kong. I'll probably post tomorrow anyhow to kill time. And now, back to the last minute packing...

Getting Ready - June 24

2008-06-26T11:10:00.001+05:30

June 24
Originally uploaded by Frank Lax

Went to the library to pick up some books on travel photography. It's nice to try and cover all of your bases before you leave so you have a general idea of how and what you're going to shoot. Either way though, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be struggling to remember half of the stuff that's in these books. After all, the authors have been doing serious travel photography for years, and I'm just jumping on board right now.

Getting Ready - June 20

2008-06-26T10:48:00.001+05:30

June 20
Originally uploaded by Frank Lax

Well the India trip is getting closer and so I've been on a little bit of a shopping spree. First thing's first. New camera bag(s)! This will house my Nikon, flash, and lenses.